In the 1470s, a Flemish scribe left some meticulously drafted pages of an illuminated manuscript out to dry, only to find out the next day that his cat had trod over them, leaving inky paw prints on ...

Cats had a bad reputation in the middle ages. Their presumed links with paganism and witchcraft meant they were often treated with suspicion. But despite their association with the supernatural, ...

Inky paw prints on a 15th-century Flemish manuscript The Walters Museum More than 500 years ago, after dedicating hours to the meticulous transcription of a crucial manuscript, a Flemish scribe set ...

In an age where digital files can disappear with a single click, the survival of these fragile marks feels almost poetic. A simple accident — a cat crossing a desk at the wrong moment — became a ...